Staring at the Sky

A sample of some of the letterforms I found in the clouds so far. These photos have not been retouched.

Type Brief Feedback

The presentation went over pretty well!

People also presented some good ideas. I think my favorite one was a guy who saw a man walking around oxford street with a tiny sign on a stick that said 'Jesus.' This inspired him to make his own sign and carry it around. The sign was about 10" x 15" and had 12 pt type on it that read "I need air."Brilliant.

I am so glad that I decided to include this last slide in the presentation explaining why I chose the font that I did:

Next step: expand! I've got a fine art major and a textiles major in my group, and we are going to hone our skills in order to create a parallel between the art students at chelsea, and the doctors/ lab technicians that worked there before. Ideas include making signs that look convincing and placing them over the existing signs. This means actually getting some metallic signs made and placing them over the signs by reception. Then we'll have signs that follow throughout the building, leading to the rooms that we've set stuff up in. What exactly we'll set up, we're not sure. I think this is going to be an extraordinary project, though.

Queen Alexandra's Military Hospital

The assignment: choose a place in London and... do something typographically relevant there.
So, my group decided to run with the idea that our school (Chelsea) is housed in an old Military Hospital.
Here is how the typographic experiment turned out.

Barbara Kruger

Last Friday, our typography elective tutors asked if anyone would volunteer to put together a presentation on Barbara Kruger for the following week. The class went completely silent. I didn't think it was that big a deal, and to be honest, I didn't volunteer right away beause I didn't want to look like a kiss-ass.

So, being the kind of person that I am (hating awkward silences, and having an almost illogical sense of optimism) I spoke up.
"Fine, I"ll do it!"

So, why is this proving to be so difficult?

Presentations are usually so easy to put together. So why have I been attempting to put this one together for over a week?
I have to get my head together!

NIMBA shipping

Today we did everything your mum tells you not to do- go into dodgy neighborhoods, get into cars with strangers, fall asleep in those cars... and let them leave you at the port.

We started off in Peckham at 10 AM and miraculously all three of us were on time. We headed over to the shipping company and got some footage of a car being unloaded, as well as some funny characters. Then we got a ride to the port with the company's manager. It was so cozy in the cab of the truck that I dozed off for a bit while Emma filmed him talking. We ran into some trouble at the port, though. They are pretty paranoid since they had a terrorist incident not too long ago. They also had to kick out some people from the BBC who were trying to film there without permission recently.

After re-fueling with what one of the workers at the port said was the 'best fish & chips place in Essex' we hopped on the train and made our winding way back to Peckham for one last interview.

We got a lot of good footage, and are working on getting permission from the port to film there.

Tomorrow morning, we edit for critique on Thursday.

Shadow and Light Type

Found a few random letters today amongst the shadows, and also up in the clouds. How lovely, I can spell out sex!

Maysles Brother Presentation

Here are the results of my toiling away on Hugh's Imac (my 13" screen macbook was just not suited for such a project).
Since I didn't see the hype in the original version of Grey Gardens, I decided to make my own versions.
I think that I envisioned making trailors for two different twists on Grey Gardens, but they ended up being very short films in themselves.

I uploaded these as very small files, mostly because I was thinking of Carmel on her iphone trying to watch them on the go... if she's even following me, that is. Oh, well! Here goes:

First, a horror movie! I call it Beware of Mother.
It wasn't that difficult to find footage and audio that communicated distress and created tension. It was mostly a matter of dramatizing it, and mixing the audio and visuals in an interesting way. It was good fun!



Second, a love story between mother and daughter.
This was more difficult to create. There was a lot less footage to work with in terms of both of these chicks looking happy- ESPECIALLY the mother Edith. However, I think that I've captured almost all of the high points in the film.
I wasn't sure what order to show these in, but I got the advice that it's always good to end on a high note. So I leave you with warm fuzzy feelings all over!
I call it The Girls of Grey Gardens.

Typographic Inspiration

A large stone in the park was engraved with this message. It was a huge bolder set up to balance on 3 other smaller rocks.


This was in the lift in the halls on Saturday night! I checked back later and someone had spelled out "fuck" with the cupcakes left. What tasty type!


This is from an afternoon spent in Hyde Park today. I can't help it- everywhere I go now turns into some sort of typographic experiment. Every time I set my foot outside I'm looking for some sort of letterform... in anything! And when I can't find them, I create my own.

New Typography Assignment

Just when we thought that this friday typography elective was going to be a breeze, they slam us with work.
We broke up into groups and were assigned to react typographically to some location in London. With proper research backing us, of course.

My group already had an idea- we are enamored with the fact that the Chelsea school of art building used to be a hospital. We want to explore the physical building more, and make some sort of tyopgraphic reaction that could link the hospital with the art students that currently inhabit it. So far, the word 'dissect' comes to mind.
Of course, these are initial thoughts, and we could go anywhere from here. This project is only a week long, so we have to think and act quick.

I also volunteered to give a presentation on Barbara Kruger next week. Why? Because NOBODY ELSE SPOKE UP and I felt like... I had to! I don't mind, though. I'm getting pretty good at putting together these power points.

Inspirational words from Keiron

“It’s not about finished work, but learning in order to have the potential to create better finished work.”

Right. So, the Peckham project pushes on. We meet with the shiping guy tomorrow morning, and send a follow- up email to Elim house. Filming needs to be done soon! 6 minute rough films are due by next week.

Peckham group self esteem

After idiotically missing the lecture this morning (I really have to be more careful reading schedules) I headed out to Peckham to meet my group.

We met with the head honchos at Elim house (the old people's home) to see if they were on board with us filming them. Hopes were high, but we (Bhav in particular) were also aware that they could deny us.

The outcome: we will hear in a week whether anyone in the home is interested. All we can do until then is cross our fingers.

Downtrodden, we decided that we NEEDED more from this visit. Firstly to have something to show for tomorrow's assesment, secondly to explore other options in case Elim's answer was a no, and thirdly to boost our group's self esteem.

Literally sitting on a curb, thinking about what to do next, Emma spotted this card:

She said- I bet the other side of that card is a eight of diamonds. If it is, then we'll be ok and Elim will say yes, our project will be amazing, we'll all be rich and famous and ride ponys into the sunset! Well, she said something to that effect, at least.

I flipped the card over with my boot, as I was afraid that it was riddled with disease.

Behold! An ace of spades!

I don't know if this silly "sign" really meant anything, but at least it got us laughing again. After re-fueling with some McD's, we ran into a traffic warden and interviewed him briefly.

Then we went to visit our friend Jamil over at the car park, and got some footage of him. We proposed that we film him on a saturday working the car park, and got him to agree to ask his friend who worked sundays if he would be up for it as well.

Sadly, the guy who runs Nimba shipping wasn't in, but we did get a phone call in, and are going to arrange to meet with him soon.

Biography Presentations

Thank goodness the tutors decided to split up the groups further! Any more than 10 presentations at a time just gets too overwhelming. Plus, it's harder to give good feedback when you can hardly remember what someone has done, and are half a sleep/ need to pee really bad by the end of it all.

My presentation on the Maysles brothers went well. They suggested that I add in more video clips, and that makes sense, since they ARE film makers. The group enjoyed that I made my opinion on the Maysles clear- I don't get them, and I don't really care for them.

Suggestions for how to continue for the final project was to do my own take on one of their films- edit one of them (I'm thinking Grey Gardens) and make a "Morgan Cut". I could even make 2 or 3 trailers through editing the material and contrive a story that I find more interesting than the free- rolling camera style the Maysles use.

I start experimenting tomorrow! This should be interesting.

Documenting Life

My mind is a jumble right now.

There is the biographies project, which will be short- lived, but challenging nonetheless, the Peckham project which thankfully I have great group members to work with, a new assignment from contextual studies about... well i'm not completely sure what it's about, but it's gonna require a lot of thought.

On top of that, there is my senior thesis to be thinking about.

I should be working now, but I have this desire to document my thoughts as much as possible while I'm here. That gets me thinking about how maybe I should try and document my life in general. What makes this place special? Yes, it is out of the ordinary for me to be out of New York, and there are new people and places, but it's all just a part of my life. Everything is worth documenting, isn't it?

I guess the Maysles brothers thought so. They didn't seem to get involved with their subjects so much- they just watched. Observed, let the camera roll, and didn't make any input or try to put a spin on it. Maybe the reason I can't seem to appreciate them is because I'm used to being intentionally entertained by films, or at least having an idea projected at me through the films. When I watch a Maysles film, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think. How do they want me to respond? If I was in those situations in person, I would be able to interact with the characters. However, watching them remotely, I almost feel... creepy.

Funny that we were shown the film We Live In Public since it ties in so well with everything I am experiencing right now. Assigned a documentary project where I'm sure we are expected to develop some sort of intimacy with our subjects, assigned a project on documentary film makers, and the matter of wanting to document my life and share my experiences.

Biography project

The Maysles brothers. I had never heard of them until I pulled their names out of a wooden crate a few days ago. They're documentary film makers who are supposedly revolutionary in their style. I watched a few films- Gimme Shelter, Grey gardens (photo above), The Gates, and clips from Salesmen.

What's so special about them? There is hardly any editing in their films, and they just seem to turn the camera on and let it run. Hopefully my search for what makes these guys special will give me some direction in how to portray them in my project.

Peckham progress

So, after much debating, and some filming, our group has decided to document the Elim house for the elderly in Peckham instead of the Persian goods shop. This idea was well-received by the class and tutors. Hopefully it all works out. Thanks to Bhav's brilliant and heartfelt email, we will be meeting with Milly (the representative from Elim) on Wednesday afternoon to work out the details.